Awesome August 22nd

Back to the downtown, this time in waves. Our family wanted to do another Duck Tour, like we did in San Francisco, and so we traveled downtown as a group and took Aiden with us. My dad, Cherisa and Megan met us later and then we all met up with my mom who flew back from the funeral and took the train from the airport to downtown in time to have lunch with us. Ian had to work and Malcolm and Devin stayed at home with a babysitter. So I'll start with pictures of the Duck Tour of Boston.

After the Duck Tour we met Gramma for lunch and headed by ferry to the north shore. We went to visit the USS Constitution AKA Old Ironsides, which had been taken out for a sail that morning, and the Old North Church. Because the Constitution is never taken out it really messed up the schedule for the tour and so we spent some time in the museum next door to learn more about it. Then it finally opened but it was pretty late in the afternoon. We finished and walked as quickly as we could to the Old North Church which is nearly a mile away, just to find out that it was closing early for a wedding and that we couldn't enter. So we peeked in the windows and told the children about the historical significance of the church. (One if by land, two if by sea...)
Views on and from the ferry.

USS Cassin Young that we toured while waiting for USS Constitution to reopen.

Old Ironsides.

I didn't take any pictures on the ship herself, but we had a nice time exploring her decks and learning the history of this beautiful ship. After our mad march to the Old North Church we then mosied toward the closest train station, stopping by the world famous Mike's Pastry for some cannolis. At the train Jason and I parted ways with the rest of our crew and headed for Fenway Park. We went to see our Mariners play in a(nother) world famous venue.
We left at the top of the 7th as the Mariners were down, it had been a really long day, and we were flying home the next morning. As we rode the train back to the car we learned that the Mariners had rallied and won the game. To be honest, I was glad we missed that because the Boston fans were in a great mood as we were leaving and I'm not sure I wanted to share a train with angry Red Sox fans.

A great ending to a wonderful trip.
Saturday the 23rd we woke up, packed, cleaned house, returned rental cars and headed for the airport for the flight home. It was a wonderful week with just the Sabbath ahead to rest and relax before all the kids, including Rachel, started school on the 25th. I had that week off from school but had been assigned homework over the "summer break" that I had to cover. And Awesome August faded into the history books. =)